Re Thundserstruck & UpdaRoayal's posts on Daragh Smyth's proposed transfer to O Mahonys from Bective. Bective is part of Navan parish so comments about parish pride and representing neighbours and family etc are irrelevant in this case. The chap has also played hurling for O'Mahonys for many years - he won a minor B championship playing for them a coupe of years ago. The real question is whether it is wrong for a young player to want to give himself a better chance of representing Meath at senior level in the future by joining a senior club and improving the standard of players he trains with and plays matches against on a regular basis. I'm not saying it's not possible for a junior club player to make it on the Meath senior team but at the end of the day, if you ask how many junior club players played for Meath in last years championship v Wexford, the answer is one (Chris O'Connor) even accounting for the fact that four or five of our team were suspended. Inl ast weeks O'Byrne cup defeat by Kildare with an experimental team - no junior club player played for Meath. O Mahonys won the championship last year and will have six or more players on the Meath panel this year - when was the last time Bective had a player on the panel? Is he wrong to look for a transfer - I wouldn't think so......

TheGrunt (Meath) - Posts: 55 - 16/01/2009 00:01:59    181952

The Paddy McHale transfer from Dunshaughlin to Bray Emmets didn't go through either did it. Emmets loss is defnitely Dunshaughlins gain.

CommitteeeeMan (Meath) - Posts: 153 - 16/01/2009 09:48:22    182068

I dont see Dunshaughlins problem here,that man has given years of service to the Dunshaughlin cause . . There must be more to this than meets the eye, Can anyone from Dunshaughlin shed a little light on this?

Dinky (Meath) - Posts: 49 - 16/01/2009 10:30:52    182106

Paddy Murry HAS left Walterstown and joined St. Endas of Dublin,

posh (Meath) - Posts: 633 - 16/01/2009 11:54:37    182189

Whats the rule regarding players transferring from clubs in the same parish? Is someone from Navan free to choose to play for O' Mahonys, Simonstown or Bective?

men_of_49 (Meath) - Posts: 2024 - 16/01/2009 12:58:15    182240

There is no truth whatsoever in those transfers from Rathkenny. Meade and Lenihan are staying.

kennys_rath (Meath) - Posts: 80 - 16/01/2009 13:11:57    182250

The Grunt, you have to be an O'Mahony's man to come out with a speel like that. You think everybody just move for the sake of glory - I wonder what your take would have been on O'Mahony's best players moving to senior clubs when you were intermediate for two years not so long ago. If I remember correctly the likes of Stephen Bray and all the others decided that O'Mahony's was their club and to rightly put their shoulder to the wheel. I doubt you would agree that some of the O'Mahony's players who are at college in Dublin should joing Kilmacud so they could have a better chance of winning a Leinster or All-Ireland club title.
Players should stick with the clubs they were coached in for adult level and if they move address, sure move. But no minor should be allowed to get a transfer to another club at adult level without having given his own club a fair shot at adult level for a year.
Also, if you look at the starting Meath team for the O'Byrne Cup game against Kildare, nine of them have played football at some stage below senior championship level in Meath. The reasons their clubs are at a higher level now is because they STAYED with their clubs.

Roger (Meath) - Posts: 481 - 16/01/2009 13:20:20    182261

more lies posh!

J_C (Meath) - Posts: 41 - 16/01/2009 14:39:16    182337

If darragh smith wants to move to a bigger club then he should be let, having a player at your club who doesnt want to be there is wrong and the lad should be let go. The lad has never played adult football in his life because he has the ambition of playing senior. As far as i know he is on the meath u-21s and for him or anyone to make county senior, they need to be playing club senior, as thegrunt put it: when was the last time Bective had a player on the panel? There is no doubting the lad has serious talent and quality so why should he waste away with a struggling junior club when he could be starting with Navan o mahonys, and loyalty is irrelevent as both bective and o mahonys are in the same parish and according to thegrunt, smith already plays for o mahnoys in a different code. in my opinion the whole system is ridiculous, when are these 'individual meetings' does anyone know?

royal90 (Meath) - Posts: 5 - 16/01/2009 16:55:11    182507

Re TheGrunt and royal90....I am suprised you think it's acceptable for a player to abandon their club just because they are a junior team. Players like Tommy Dowd, Ritchie Kealy, Jimmy Mc Guinness, Enda Mc Manus, Jody Devine, Martin O' Connell, PJ Gillic etc. began playing adult football at junior level and in most cases they experienced success with their club, indeed some of them won junior, intermediate and senior. All I am saying is that a young player should at least give his home club a chance and if they are not progressing maybe he should reconsider his future after a couple of years.

Personally I don't think it would be a great move anyway plenty of young players who have represented Meath at underage level (Murtagh, Matthews, Conaty etc.) have failed to become regulars on the O' Mahonys team, so Smith maybe looking at a couple of years on the bench before he makes a breakthrough. One thing is for sure he will never make the same contribution to O' Mahonys that he could make to Bective.....The best of luck to the lad either-way.

Thunderstruck (Meath) - Posts: 483 - 16/01/2009 19:10:32    182628

Roger - if you ready my post I never mentioned anything about winning championships or medals so making comparisons with O Mahonys players leaving to join Kilmacud to try and win a Leinster is absolutely ridiculous. The point I was making is that by joining a senior club and playing at a higher level, his football can only improve which in turn will improve his chances of playing for the Meath senior team. As Rafa Benitez might say - these are the facts, these are not my impression - illustrated by my point as to how many junior club players have made the Meath senior team in the past few years. I do sympathise with Bective if they lose him after all the work that has gone in to developing his talent and if I was the player in question I'm not so sure I would abandon my club. But the reality is the lad has aspirations of playing at the highest level and it looks like he will do anything it takes to achieve this goal. He wouldn't be the first to go down this route and won't be the last - from the same minor team from last year Mark Battersby has already transferred from Curraha to Skryne.

TheGrunt (Meath) - Posts: 55 - 16/01/2009 22:27:37    182740

if darragh smith gets his transfer he will be still playing junior football for the next two-three years anyway.o mahonys arent gonna drop henry finnegan,paddy smith,shane mckeigue,steven or david bray,lee russell or sean keating!!so theres little point in him getting the transfer at this moment in time.he should play junior with bective for two to three years and make a name for himself at this level,if he is good enough he will be on the u21's and the senior manager will always be looking at the u21 panels!if then he has continued to improve and would be a cert to make the first team in o mahonys try get the transfer if he so wishes..

Obama08 (Meath) - Posts: 84 - 17/01/2009 00:32:59    182852

The introduction of divisional teams such as in Cork and Kerry would solve this problem and give players from junior and intermediate level a chance to play senior football.

gabriel (Meath) - Posts: 16 - 17/01/2009 09:06:21    182895

I think Daragh smith should show a bit of respect for his parish club Bective because they have put alot of work into the Bective juvinile teams that he has played with and to just turn around and look for a transfer straight away is not fair on Bective.

12Royal (Meath) - Posts: 987 - 17/01/2009 12:54:52    182955

12Royal - Bective is not a parish. It's a club and is part of Navan parish. But I understand your point.

Agree with Gabriels post. Divisional teams may solve the problem but think it's highly unlikey we will ever see that in Meath.

So the powers that be will decide whether Darragh should get his transfer or not. And if I was a betting man I'd say it will be refused in any case. There was a similar case in the last few years where Bective's best player wanted to transfer to O'Mahonys but was refused by the county board five or six years in a row. Though he did win a Junior All Ireland with Meath, he never made the progression to the Meath Senior team.....

TheGrunt (Meath) - Posts: 55 - 17/01/2009 13:44:03    182988

If Johny Cullinane left Drumree it would be a huge blow to them.

12Royal (Meath) - Posts: 987 - 17/01/2009 15:11:27    183021

anybody here gerathy is coming back to seneschalstown or is it just a rumour?? I heard Andrew Curry from skryne is looking for a transfer to seneschalstown aswell..

Mroyal1 (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 19/01/2009 12:20:27    183671

Friday, 23th January 2009- Páirc Tailteann

7.00 p.m. Darragh Smith (Bective to O'Mahony's)

7.15 p.m. Kevin Rourke (Bective to St. Michael's)

7.30 p.m. Gavin Meehan (Moynalty to St. Michael's)

7.45 p.m. Christopher Doyle (Drumree to Dunderry)

8.00 p.m. John Cullinane (Drumree to Longwood)

8.15 p.m. Rory Maguire (Longwood to Moynalty)

8.30p.m. Michael Mc Garry (Castletown to Wolfe Tones)

8.45 p.m. James Finnerty (Castletown to Skryne)

9.00 p.m. Peter Watters (St. Mary's to Seneschalstown)

9.15 p.m. Simon Deevy (Drumbaragh to Ballinlough)

9.30 p.m. Derek Doran (Ballivor to Kildalkey)

9.30 p.m. Francis Doran (Ballivor to Kildalkey)

9.45 p.m. Anthony Moyles (Blackhall to St.Peter's)


Rory Maguire is looking to go to Moynalty according to this, not the Tones! Moyles to Dunboyne. Cullinane wants to go to Longwood, perhaps he feels better chance of winning the junior with them than with Drumree. Can't particularly understand Maguire's decision to want to go to Moynalty but then again we don't know his personal arrangements, I'm sure plenty of clubs would be interested in a player of his ability

updaroyal (Meath) - Posts: 1132 - 19/01/2009 12:25:55    183679

He is currently living in moynalty. Cant understand Why CArnaross, St Michaels Kells Or Kilmainhmwood arent trying to get him. Why he would want to go to moynalty is dumbfounding to say the least.

paudi (Meath) - Posts: 681 - 19/01/2009 12:54:27    183715

Id say what happened was that he wanted to go to the tones but it was blocked by longwood, so since he is living in moynalty he can't be stopped from playing for them. He prob doesn't want to travel up and down to longwood for training and such, and the fact that longwood didn't let him go makes it easier for him to leave. Maybe if he plays for Moynalty for one year and helps them win junior b,which they are not far off, they will let him get a transfer to the tones. Only a guess though

Fabio Capello (Meath) - Posts: 174 - 19/01/2009 13:10:32    183724